Lincoln women ousted in CIAA quarters

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It sounds painfully obvious, but in order to win basketball games, you’ve got to put the ball in the basket.

Equally painful, though, is the result of a game where the shots just never seem to fall.

The Lincoln women shot just 23 percent from the field Wednesday at the Time Warner Cable Arena, and fell 60-46 to Sourthern Division champ Fayetteville State in the quarterfinal round of the CIAA Championship tournament.

“We came out physically ready despite having such a short time off since playing last night,” said Lincoln coach Jessica Kern. “Our trainers did a great job in getting us ready to play. And we were emotionally ready today, too. But when you shoot just 23 percent, it’s tough to finish off games.”

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Lincoln got on the board first, with the first bucket of the game coming once again from senior forward Brittney Watters. Over on the defensive end, the Lions played tough again as well, and for the first six minutes, it was a two-point game.

But the Broncos, behind the stellar play of CIAA Player of the Year Kristen Hanzer, went off on a 24-4 run. Hanzer posted 12 of her game-high 15 points in the first half, and the Lions went to the locker room trailing 31-18 at the half.

“Fayetteville really capitalized on turnovers,” Kern said. “We outscored them in the paint, and we outrebounded them. But if we turned it over, they scored.”

In the end, the Broncos held a 21-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Lions put together a solid second half, and were only outscored by two points over the course of the final 20 minutes. But having dug themselves a deep hole with the first-half dry spell, the comeback was rendered unlikely.

A comeback was made all the more unlikely when, within minutes of each other, Lions center Mfon Ekanem and Cynthia Johnson, the MVP in the Lions’ opening game win over JCSU, fouled out.

“It’s tough to compete with 32 trips to the line like they had,” said Kern.

The Broncos, ranked number 22 in Division II, finished the night with four players in double digits. In addition to Hanzer’s 15, forward Shuanda Ashford tallied a double-double, with a dozen rebounds to go along with her 12 points. Also reaching double digits for FSU were Alicia Person (12) and Akysia Resper (12).

Despite having to watch from the bench for the final 10 minutes of play, Johnson once again paced the Lions’ offense, pouring in 12 points before her early departure.

“Just like last night, our attitude was attack, attack, attack,” Johnson said. “I thought we played well defensively again today, but the game just got away from us.”

With the loss, the Lions close out the season with a record of 10-18. But with the first CIAA tournament win in Lincoln history under their belt, the Lions have announced their arrival.

“We’re disappointed to see it end today,” said Kern, “but we’re excited about next year. We’re all motivated to keep on moving forward next year. We have a nice recruting class coming in that will give us some help in the paint, and we’re just excited to come back even stronger next season.”